The uncovered master of puppets
by Nepeace
Summary: After NCIS Director Jen Shepards dead the team is split up. Deputy Director Vance is now running the show much to the dislikes of the team. Gibbs is having trouble adjusting to the new situation and is prepared to do anything to get his team back.
1. Prologue

This story is old, I wrote it last year for a challenge over at NFA. But for some reason I never posted it here or on my personal website. I only found out about that yesterday. So I am uploading the story here as we speak. I hope that you will like it.

Let me know, tell me what you think, I appreciatie it.

**The uncovered master of puppets**

**Title:** The uncovered master of puppets

**Author:** Nepeace ( aka Angelique )

**Fandom:** NCIS

**Pairings:** Yes, one but I won't tell who is involved, you have to read the story to find out.

**Warnings:** Season 5 finale spoilers

**Challenge:** What's up with Vance – NFA challenge

**Ratings:** M

**Words:** A lot ...

Summary: After NCIS Director Jen Shepards dead the team is split up. Deputy Director Vance is now running the show much to the dislikes of the team. Gibbs is having trouble adjusting to the new situation and is prepared to do anything to get his team back.

**Disclaimer:** NCIS belongs to Donald P. Bellisario and CBS. Everything that you don't recognize belongs to me.

**The uncovered master of puppets**

_End of passion play, crumbling away  
Im your source of self-destruction  
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear  
Leading on your deaths construction_

_The uncovered master of puppets_

_Master of puppets Im pulling your strings  
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams  
Blinded by me, you cant see a thing  
Just call my name, `cause I'll hear you scream_

_'Master of puppets' - Metallica_

_//End scene - Judgement day//_

They entered the room all four of them, Gibbs first followed by Ziva, McGee and Tony. They where in no shape to have this meeting right now but there was no way to get out of it. They had just burried their Director and personal friend Jenny Shepard. They stood in front of the new Director of NCIS Leon Vance. "Bad couple of days." He spoke as he rearranged some files on his desk.

He didn't waste any time; "Officer David, your liaison position with NCIS has been terminated." She looked shaken, she had expected anything even this, but hearing the words spoken to her it shook her to her core. "You're going home." Even Gibbs couldn't hide how shocked he was at hearing this.

"McGee. I am moving you across to the cyber crimes unit. You'll be working with officer Halsworth starting tomorrow."

"DiNozzo."

"Sir." He was the first one to speak, the others where too baffled to say anything. In a way Tony thought that he deserved to be punished. He was after all the senior agent on the protection detail of Director Shepard. He was all too happy when Jen told them to take some time off, who wouldn't be it was nice and sunny and they where close to the beach. He should have known that something was wrong but instead of trusting that everything was okay, he should have trusted his instinct and Ziva's instinct instead he got her to join him on a trip with the convertible.

"You've been reassigned, agent afloat USS Ronald Reagan. Pack your bags you'll fly out tomorrow." Vance continued on turning towards Gibbs.

"Agent Gibbs." He picked up the files which had been on his desk and stepped around the desk; "Meet your new team." He handed Gibbs the files, he opened the door. Making it that much more obvious that he was done with all of them.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

They all left in dead silence, there was nothing left to say. If it was even possible the atmosphere had turned even more grim then it had when they went up to the office. Nothing could change what happened, he knew that but he wasn't ready to admit it just yet. Jenny would never come back, Ziva and Tony would never be able to safe her and change the outcome. This was one of those things where nothing could be done. He had been there before, done that and taking revenge hadn't helped back then and it sure wouldn't help right now. This was the kind of wrong which could never be righted.

And Vance, he was the new Director of NCIS and whatever he said would get a go as long as SecNav didn't pull rank over him. But since the arrangements for a new team had been made, and even arrangements for Ziva and Tony's departure it must have been okay'ed by SecNav. On one hand Gibbs wanted to retire, but he couldn't do that to Abby. He knew that Abby couldn't bare to loose him too at this moment. She was taking Jenny's death harder then he thought she would. Over the last couple of months he had noticed that Jenny visited Abby in her lab on several occasions. And not just when she had to because she wanted to know the results of a test, Jen was actually the one who got Abby to open the doors to her lab when she had Jethro the dog in there.

Tony on the other hand had been sporting the biggest fake smile he had ever seen. Especially when Abby was around, he tried to be cheerful about his new mission, calling it a new chance. A way to be able to show that he could work his own investigations without Gibbs to tell him what to do. Gibbs knew that if he had wanted to he could have had his own team years ago. Jen had told him that she had offered Tony the lead on a team in Rota, Spain. But Tony had declined. He made jokes about being the boss now that he was going to the USS Ronald Reagan until McGee pointed out to him that he would be the only NCIS on board so he would be the boss, the team leader and the probie all at once.

Nobody had spoken much after that, Ziva had cleared her desk methodically and without emotion. She stacked the papers she needed in a folder and put them in her bag wordless. While Tony handed most of his stuff to McGee or Abby, to remember him by he said. At that moment Abby broke down and clamped herself against Tony. Who stroked her back patiently until her sobs subsided. No one knew what to do or how to handle the situation. Finally after a while Gibbs got up and pried her from Tony. He brushed the rest of his belongings forcefully into his backpack. Soon thereafter they shared their last hugs and goodbye's and left. Leaving a big gaping hole in everyones chest as the door closed behind them, nothing would ever be the same again.

Abby sat silently in Tony's chair, tears slipping down her cheek as she watched McGee move around his desk. Every time he walked away for more then a couple of meters she jumped up and followed him around much like a puppy would. Even to the point where Gibbs had to call her back because McGee was supposed to meet his new team. She came back, this time she sat down at Ziva's desk for the second time in a couple of years this desk was left empty, and for the second time in as many years the emptiness of that desk hit hard.

He took Abby home that night, he didn't want her to be alone right now. She slumped down on his couch in the basement and watched him as he worked on the boat, as he had said before it worked therapeutic. Every now and then she would start crying silently. Gibbs would sit down next to her as soon as he noticed a new flood of tears rolling down her cheeks. He would embrace her until her tears subsided. A while later she was standing next to his boat as he brushed his hand over the curves in the wood checking if they where meeting his requirements. Every now and again he stroked the curves with the sanding block. Abby watched him closely, a bottle of beer clutched in her hand. She took a sip, he reached out and pulled her close handing the sanding block to her. And wordlessly showing her what she had to do.

Gibbs stepped away from the boat and filled his mug with bourbon. Everything about it remembered him of Jenny, the color, the taste and especially the smell. Even though he was the one who taught her how to drink it he was now the one that was reminding her by drinking it.

As minutes turned into hours the comfortable silence between him and Abby continued on. They worked on the boat, the one that he had already named 'Jenny' in his head. Working on it together with Abby he hoped that it would give her some peace of mind. Every now and then he noticed that Abby was drinking his bourbon as well as her own beer. He didn't want to stop her knowing that it probably wouldn't work anyway, everybody had a different way of dealing with the situatio at least he would be there to pick up the pieces in to morning.

Later that night he carried her to his guest bedroom and hoped that she would be able to sleep even if it would mean that she would wake up to an even more grim morning battling the feeling off loss and a hangover from the mixture of bourbon and beer that she drank.

He was up the next morning - barely a couple of hours since he got into bed – soon he was back in the kitchen brewing a strong cup of coffee when he heard some stumbling upstairs. Soon thereafter Abby appeared in the kitchen rubbing the sleep from her eyes. He hair looked like a mess and there where dirty tear stains on her cheeks. Her clothes where wrinkled and she was barefoot. She could barely open her eyes to the bright light in the kitchen. Gibbs handed her a cup of coffee with an apologetic smile; "Sorry Abs, no Caf-pow but this might work just as well."

She didn't even argue that she didn't like coffee she knew that it was the next best thing she could get at this moment that might help her deal with the hangover. Gibbs suggested that they would head over to Abby's apartment so that she could shower and put on clean clothes. They had agreed to meet for an early lunch with the whole team before, the people that used to be on the team after which Gibbs would drop them off at the airport.

When he closed his eyes he could still see the devastated look on Ziva's face when he met her the day after Jenny's death. But the empty look in her eyes that day had been nothing compared to her look in her eyes when they where at the airport standing there as she was waited for the flight which would take her away from everything that she called home. They where empty, there was no strength left. She hadn't even tried to keep up a brave face in front of the others. Which he knew was something which was very unzivalike. Gibbs knew that over the last couple of years a lot of things had changed for Ziva. Things she would have never learned if she had stayed under her fathers' wings. Abilities that a women in her position could only learn in a different country away from what was left of her broken family and Mossad. And now she was forced to go back.


	3. Chapter 2

An: Thanks for reading the story, reviews are greatly appreciated.

Chapter 2

He lend forward and grabbed the files that where neatly stacked at the far end of the desk, the further away the better. They where stacked in exactly the spot where he put them down two weeks ago. He hadn't touched them and rather did not until it was absolutely necessary. But he knew that it was better if he knew who was in his new team.

So far he hadn't even taken the time to get to know his new team. And to be quite honest he still hoped against better knowing that he would wake up and find that everything and everyone was still where they belonged. Ziva on his right, Tony and McGee across from him. And his new team members back from where ever the hell they came from.

He still expected to see the door up on the second floor open and his favorite red head step out of the office. Looking down on him with that smile; the smile that still haunted his dreams. He sighed knowing that it wouldn't happen; he grabbed the top file from the pile and opened it he tried to read it and realized that he didn't have his reading glasses and threw it back down on his keyboard. His computer gave out an obvious signal that something was wrong, but he couldn't care less.

His first instinct was to call out McGee's name but as he looked at the table across from him he realized once again that McGee wasn't there, it was now 'Prettyboy's' desk. And he was sure that he would not know anything about computers. The only thing he seemed to know anything about was how to seduce women. He was worse then Tony, something that Gibbs never expected to be possible but he seemed to be if you could believe all of his stories. Of course he could pick up the phone and call McGee, at least he was still on the Navy Yard, but he didn't, he had other plans. For all he cared his computer could blow up right then and there, he didn't need the damn thing anyway.

He got up and left the squad room, stomping towards the elevator. Annoyed when it took a while to arrive he pushed the button time after time. Finally he smacked it hard and slammed the door to the stairwell open against the bright orange wall. Never more then right now had he hated the bright color, he wondered who ever came up with that bright idea. No one in their right mind would paint a wall orange.

He took in a deep breathe of cold air as soon as he got outside. He walked down the navy yard and bought a coffee and a Caf-Pow. While he made his way back taking his time by going down to the lab first. Abby's lab was drenched in dead silence, it didn't really surprise him. The door slit open and he stepped inside he found her sitting in the back room of her lab in front of her computer. He knew that Abby was sitting there grieving. He really couldn't put it any other way.

He knew exactly what she was feeling, and he wished that he could make it better. And he had tried but so far he didn't get any results. He really hoped that he could do something - anything, but with every passing day it felt more hopeless then the one before.

He was worried about Ziva, he knew that she was in a very risky position since she had gone back to Israel. And part of him wondered if he would ever be informed if something happened to her. He hoped that there where people there to help Ziva, if not family then he sure hoped that she still had some friends there that she could trust. He feared that by the time he found a solution it would be too late for her.

He also thought about Tony, but he knew that Tony would be fine besides being bored out of his skull confined to be on the same ship day in and day out and there where not many women around to date. And the women that where there where not exactly Tony's kind of women, and they would probably not date him because they where in active duty on board of a marine ship. But at the same time he knew that there was no immediate danger for him.

Since his team was ripped apart he had seen McGee just once, he knew that the young special agent was waisting his talent by just sitting behind a computer every minute of the day. Sure he was good with computers and he could do almost anything on that machine; but he had also proven to be a very good field agent over the last couple of years.

And Gibbs hated to see that talent go to waste; and maybe that was a selfish thought on his behave but he really thought that McGee was more talented then he ever thought. He always thought that his self doubt was holding him back and once he overcame that he thought that McGee could even be good enough to take his job.

But while his mind was consumed with finding a way to get Vance out of that office and his team back where they belonged there was one thing that worried him more then he had ever said out loud. He was worried about Abby, most times when he visited her in the lab he found her in the back huddled in front of the computer wiping away the tears that threatened to spill when she heard him approach. She didn't look up most of the time, because she knew that it was either him or McGee who visited her. He put the Caf-Pow down in front of her, a small thank you was all he got from her. He asked her about the tests he had her perform; she got up and methodically showed him what she found out. There was no trace of the usual banter that erupted when he asked her for results. No questions if he wanted to hear the good news first or the bad news. No seeking for a 'good job, Abby' or a kiss on her cheek. Nothing. When she got up and walked over to the computer he noticed how badly she looked, as if she was severely sleep deprived her motions where slow and careful and she looked even skinnier then she usually did. He couldn't remember the last time he saw her smile.

Gibbs nodded and thanked her when she finished her explanation of the results. She made her way back to the back room and sat down in her chair, cuddling Bert the farting hippo. But even the usual farting sound that the hippo produced when he was cuddled had disappeared. He sighed and left the lab, he didn't know what to do but he knew that he couldn't leave things this way. He needed to find a solution for all of them.


	4. Chapter 3

AN: Sorry for the wait, I couldn't upload the newest chapter. I hope you'll enjoy reading it.

Chapter 3

He stopped the elevator half way between the floors and leaned against the cold stale wall. He sighed, knowing that his old team was depending on him. Also knowing that both Ziva and Tony couldn't do a damn thing even if they wanted to from where they where. He knew that it all came down to him and maybe McGee if he could get him to jeopardize his job that was. He took a few minutes to compose himself, before he pushed off the wall and reached for the button on the panel. The doors slit open and he approached his new team members.

Daniel Lewis, his new senior agent got up as soon as he saw him exiting the elevator. The young dark haired man, silent, reserved and careful. He had a family and the desire to go home after a hard day of work. On one hand that made him a good agent, he was focused on the task at hand. He had proven to be an excellent interrogator and investigator. And Gibbs respected the new agent, but he could never replace Tony. Gibbs missed Tony's bickering with Ziva, his wandering eyes whenever a woman passed by. And even all the times that he had to slap him because he was acting inappropriate.

"Boss, we have researched the evidence that we have. But we haven't yet found a way to connect it to the suspect. I have the feeling that we are missing something." He said in his low voice, Daniel looked up at him.

"Well find what you're missing and report back to me when you have something worth telling me." Gibbs said grumpily, he walked past James McGuire, or Jamie as he liked to be called but Gibbs thought 'Prettyboy' was more fitting. A young smart guy, handsome. He looked like a male swimsuit model, not that he had seen him naked. But he looked as if he spend way too much time in front of the mirror and in the gym, it gave Gibbs a pretty good idea of what the rest of his body looked like. The guy was completely in love with himself and thought that he was God's gift to women. A trait that Gibbs despised in a person. He was almost convinced that Vance had chosen this particular agent for Gibbs' team on purpose. A ladies man like Tony, flirting with every female he got in eye sight. But compared to this guy Tony's antics had been child's play and very descent.

He couldn't help it, but he felt like smacking him even more then he used to smack Tony. Especially when he walked by and noticed the way that he was siting on the edge of Nikki Jardine's desk, the final new team member. He leaned in and said something softly and laughed. It was sure that he was making a comment to her about her looks or a similar subject. He walked past him and smacked him hard. "Get back to your own desk and find the connection between the suspect and the evidence." He barked to him.

Jamie stood up as if he wanted to make a smart comment but he snapped his mouth shut when he saw the look on Gibbs' face. He softened the look but only a fraction of what it had been. These three young special agents where not to blame for what happened. Still he was unable to act civil around them, he knew that he was acting like an ass hole. The only time he showed his real demeanor was when he was around Abby. Around her he was even acting like a big softie.

Jamie and Daniel probably thought that this was just the way he was, Nikki on her turn knew better. Most of the time she stayed out of his way unless she really had to tell him something case related. They had put Nikki on his team, the only agent he had known before everything went to hell. She was the one who went to Iraq with Tony, there was something odd about the woman. He just couldn't put his finger on it, she was a good special agent even though she had some strange quirks.

Gibbs sat down at his desk watching them all as they got back to work. After a few minutes when he was satisfied that they where all doing their job he got up again. He made his way towards the cyber crimes unit. It had been two weeks and during that time he hadn't seen McGee, not once. Even though he knew that McGee had been downstairs in the lab. He figured that it had something to do with McGee trying to show him that he could make it on his own or something along those lines. Showing that he could do what Ziva and Tony had to do without a choice.

Gibbs found McGee immediately behind his new desk, it was exactly the McGee he knew, on the outside at least, he was neatly dressed and completely engrossed in whatever he was doing on the computer. "McGee." He spoke up when he saw that the young man hadn't noticed his arrival at first.

He jumped up, straightening his clothes, which didn't need to be straightened it was out of habit that he did it; "Boss?" He asked when he realized that Gibbs was no longer his boss. "Ehm... I mean Gibbs." He added quickly.

Gibbs moved closer to him; "I need your help. No. I need my team back. I don't know how and I don't know when." Gibbs talked maybe more then McGee had ever heard him say in one breath. He talked in a hushed tone; "I need to know that I ..."

"Special agent Gibbs, I believe that Special agent McGee is no longer a member of your team, therefor it makes me wonder what you are doing here while your new team seems to be struggling with what should be an easy open and shut case. I think that you have enough rookies in your team to supervise. So let Special agent McGee do his job, before he finds himself without a job to worry about." Director Vance interrupted their conversation before Gibbs could finish it. At once McGee sat back down and began to work on his computer not giving Gibbs another glance.

He knew that it was in everybody's best interest to leave McGee alone and to go back to his so-called team. "I was just seeking some advice, Director Vance. My computer is acting strangely and since my team doesn't have someone like 'elflord' here I have to seek his advice."

"Special agent Gibbs, I know that Director Shepard tolerated the fact that you seem to think that the rules don't apply to you but she is no longer running this show. I am and we have an IT team for any kind of computer trouble. Call them and they will fix it for you."

Gibbs knew to not push the issue it was best to act as if he was settling with the idea that he had lost his team forever.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Gibbs sunk back down in his chair, he hit the buttons of his keyboard hard as if it was the computers fault that Vance showed up. Most of his day was spend thinking about his team, a way to get them back. A way to get Vance out of Jen's office. The man just didn't respect 'Semper fi', and to Gibbs that meant that he was not one of them and would never become one of them either. He felt obligated to Jen and his team to help them even if it would be the last thing he did.

***

Ziva's POV

'Officer David, you're going home.' The words resounded in her memory, time after time. Ziva had spend numerous hours in the past two days much like she was doing right now. Sitting here and staring or when she was alone crying herself to sleep. Maybe her father was right, maybe she was weak. Maybe being in a fairly safe country like America, where not every corner could be a potential target for terrorists made her weak. Three years ago she would have shrugged Vance's words off and moved on. Ready for the next mission without looking back. But now everything had changed she had learned how to feel again, to be vulnerable and it clouded her judgment and her training.

Home. Where was home anyway. Was it where she grew up for most of her life, where she had her training in the military and Mossad. Where she lost most of her family. Or was it where she lived the passed three years, where she lost her brother but gained a surrogate family even though she doubted that they knew how she felt about them. The place where she found a man like Roy who swept her off her feet even with what little time they had together. A country in which she got opportunities she never would have gotten if she stayed back home in Israel. Was that the 'promised' American dream?

Ziva stood on the boulevard watching over the beach and the sea. The sun was searingly hot and the beach was filled with families. She had arrived back in Tel Aviv merely two weeks ago, she couldn't wait to get away again. It was a beautiful city, but Ziva felt as if she didn't belong there not anymore. She was a stranger here, it would never be the same again.

She had been working for Mossad, but since her father hadn't been pleased with her work at NCIS, in his words she hadn't provided Mossad with enough intel on the US Government or the military missions. And therefor she had been reduced to paper pushing until further notice. And since her father choose to make an example out of his only left daughter it would take a cold day in hell till she would get a real mission assignmnent. Ziva knew that he was probably right about it, in fact she manage to only confirm the information that Mossad already had in their possession or given them information which was too no significant for them.

She stared at the sea and wondered where in the world Tony was. She really had no idea and no way of knowing either at this moment. Unless Abby send her Tony's new email address anyway - since his old NCIS email address had been terminated when they left NCIS.

She was still siting there when the sun was going down, gazing at the sea lost in thought. It had been at least an hour since she arrived and the people where leaving the beach behind to go home or have dinner at one of the many restaurants that where gracing the boulevard next to the sea. Ziva was packing up her belongings and got up when she suddenly heard a woman's voice call out her name.

She reluctantly turned around her eyes scanning the boulevard behind her, she didn't have to search long when the woman came towards her. Ziva smiled, she would recognize her anywhere. "Ayla!" She exclaimed happily and crossed the small distance between them, they fell into each others arms.

"You are back home?" The woman asked her in her mother tongue.

"Something like that." Ziva had a hard time to keep the emotion out of her voice.

"Something wrong, Ziva? Your father?"

"There is nothing wrong with my father, well except for the part where he still wants to control everything I do." She said with a sigh. Ayla chuckled softly, this was typical Ziva always fighting to get away from her fathers control and at the same time wanting to please him, seeking his approval.

"Do you have time to talk for a while?" Ayla asked Ziva; "It has been so long since I have seen you."

"I would like that. Do you have time right now or is Amit waiting for you." She asked while she scanned the boulevard for a glimpse of Ayla's husband.

"No, he is actually at home with our son. You did know that I had a son, did you?" Ayla asked realizing how long it had been since she had last seen Ziva.

"I did, and also that you and Amit finally tied the knot." Ziva smiled, they where together in the army, they where barely eighteen and like every Israeli they had to serve for two years before they where allowed to take up studies or work regular jobs. Back then their lives had been comparable, right now they where worlds apart.

"You know what, I could call Amit to come and have dinner with us. I am sure that he would love to see you as well." Ayla asked Ziva; "If you have time to stay here for a while and have dinner."

"I would love to have dinner with you and Amit." It was not like she had anywhere else to go. These last two weeks she had spend mostly alone except for when she visited Aunt Hadasah, her mothers sister. During the day she would usually be at her assigned office at Mossad after which she would go home to the small one room apartment she rented.

Ayla called Amit and he and their son Rachim arrived thirty minutes later. They had a nice dinner together and for the first time since everything went to hell she felt comfortable and knowing that she had a friend here made her feel a little bit more at home. She was glad that she was at the right place on the right time to meet Ayla. Ayla on her turn was glad that she had found her long lost friend back. So many times she had feared that she would never see Ziva again.

_AN: A lot of people are reading this story, only one feels the need to tell me what she thinks, thanks so much your comments make my day! I appreciate that you take your time to tell me what you think. _


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Tony leaned against the railing, the ship left the docks the day before. Finally. He had to follow a couple basic training programs to learn more about the ship and the crew, possible dangers and procedures on board. He felt like a complete idiot at the training courses he had been grouped with men who had been in the Navy or had aspired to be a petty officer, while he on his turn had been a civilian all of his life. All of the sudden he felt sorry for how he had treated McGee – because here he was the probie. And that was a pretty difficult position to be in, apart from everything that he needed to learn he also had to find the strength to carry on while the more experienced guys had a good laugh on his account.

He tried to see this as a new start, but that was easier said than done. He needed a challenge and this ship he was certain wouldn't give him that. Sure it was like a small floating city, but these people all knew that they had to live with each other for the following months without a way to escape. How much could really happen during that time in this type of environment, where every one needed to work and live together.

He watched as wave by wave crashed into the side of the ship. He walked away from the railing and went back inside where he strolled down the long narrow corridors, trying once again to memorize the endless small corridors and where they let too.

When he left the NCIS building right before he was supposed to leave for his training Gibbs had told him that he would try and find a way to get Ziva and him back at NCIS. Tony remembered how devastated Gibbs had looked when they said goodbye. Tony had hugged him and told him to first make sure that Ziva could come back. They both knew that Ziva returning to Tel Aviv could potentially endanger her life. Not only because Mossad wasn't happy with her actions while she was working with NCIS but on the other hand the Director of Mossad was a potentional target any day of the week and the same goes for his family members and since Ziva was the only remaining member of his family, it put her in even more danger.

***

"Any changes?" The doctor asked the nurse who covered the nurses station at the intensive care unit of Camp Pendleton.

"No doctor, nothing changed since your last round." The nurse spoke up as she stared at him over the rim of her reading glasses. He sighed before he turned on his heels and proceeded his way holding a clipboard in his hands. He greeted the guard that was stationed outside of one of the rooms with a nod before he stepped inside. The guard acknowledged him and nodded back. They never spoke a word. He walked into a large white room, impersonal but that didn't really matter to the person inside. It was not as if that person knew what the room looked like, she had never laid eyes on it. She had been here for a while now, in a comatose state. No one knew if she would ever wake up to see the light of day. He checked some stats on the machines around the bed and made some notes on his clipboard. There was not much he could do for her, he sighed and left the room. The initial wounds had healed and now it was up to her to wake up. Nevertheless he always talked to her when he was in the room, he believed that it would help a person in a comatose state to find their way back to consciousness. Usually he asked family members or friends to talk to a person, so that the patient is able to hear familiar voices around them. Since no one had ever visited her he took that task upon himself.

He left the woman's room but he couldn't help but wonder about her, who was she, he knew they where not allowed to talk about her. Or mention her condition to anyone who didn't have to be here. No one had visited the woman even though she had been here almost three weeks. A guard was at her door at all times, the two men who had been taking shifts had always been sitting or standing outside the door. They never spoke a word and they never asked for anything. He send a report once a week to SecNav about her condition, but other then that no one seemed interested at all. He had seen his fair share of lonely people over all the years that he worked here, but it always pained him whenever there where people that didn't receive any visitors.

He left her chart at the nurses station and was about to step onto the elevator to continue his visiting round with other patients when the nurse called him back telling him that something was going on in the patients room. He quickly made his way back to her room and checked the machines that monitored her heartbeat. He watched her closely and saw the flutter of her eyelids, it was barely visible but he noticed it nevertheless.

He sat down next to her, knowing that it could take a while before she woke up. He sighed, he felt horrible that she was here alone, waking up in a cold sterile room and the only person with her was a stranger dressed in a navy uniform and a white doctors coat.

Finally the woman opened her eyes, blinking against the bright white light. He got up and closed the curtains shielding her from the light. He stood next to her bed, he could see that she tried to talk. She probably had a million questions on her mind but due to her coma and a couple of operations they had to perform on her they had to intubate her. He grabbed a hold of her hand, he could see that she tried to focus on him. He spoke to her in a soft voice; "Miss, stay calm please. You have been in a coma and we where forced to intubate you, if you stay stabilized for the next few hours we will remove the tube that goes down your throat." He smiled at her, hoping to comfort her a little; "Do you understand what I am saying?"

She nodded to the best of her ability but at that moment she wasn't able to move much, the look in her eyes changed. Suddenly fear became evident and the heart monitor next to her bed spiked. He got up and turned off the annoying beeping sound knowing that it would probably make her more scared then do any good at this point.

"M'dam, please calm down. Breathe ... breathe ..." He coached her, his voice kind and calm. The scared look in her eyes faded a little but not completely. It was obvious that she was having a panic attack probably because she didn't know where she was or why she was here.

"Miss, you are in the intensive care unit of Camp Pendleton, a Navy base in California." He explained calmly. "You where shot, you lost a lot of blood and where in a coma for three weeks." He realized how stupid it sounded but the people who brought her in had refused to give her a name, she had only been known under a patient number and while she was unconscious that hadn really been a problem. But now that she was awake it felt awkward to call her 'miss'.

He understood that it probably had to do with her own safety, but he decided that he would ask her what her name was nevertheless. Even if she would tell him a different name it would be better then having no name to call her at all.

***

Vance was in his office sitting in his chair his hands folded together in front of his face as if he was praying thinking about the team downstairs. He somehow needed to get rid of Gibbs, he had hoped that taking away his team and giving him a complete new team would do the trick. But so far he had been holding on and even though he didn't like to admit it, Gibbs' team was still solving cases not as many as he did with his old team but for a newly assembled team they where doing better then expected.

He could of course force Ducky to retire, he was of legal age to retire anyway. He could hire a new young medical examiner. And he had thought about replacing Abby, it was the same as with McGee. She was a very talented employee, one that could not be missed. He also knew that the FBI as well as the CIA had made her some very tempting job offers which she had declined because of Gibbs' team but now that the team had fallen apart chances where that next time they would ask she would accept it. And even though he knew that she had been testing 'evidence' off the books on request by Director Shepard, Gibbs and Ducky that could not be found in any reports but he knew that she wouldn't screw around with evidence. Abby was a great asset to any lab but he wanted to keep her where she was.

To him, McGee and Abby where too valuable to NCIS. He knew that they both possessed a set of skills that was hard to come by, while Ziva and Tony could be replaced by a number of other special agent. They didn't have anything that was valuable to him, he didn't think that Ziva had offered NCIS any information they wouldn't have been able to get without her help. He never understood why Jenny Shepard wanted her on the team. Until he read Jen's personal file, Ziva had saved Jen's life when they where on a mission in Egypt. When they had been captured by the enemy while they where working together on an anti-terrorism task force. Jen had been hurt and Ziva had tried to tread the wounds to the best of her ability with what little supplies she had available to her. And when the capturers came to interrogate the two of them Ziva had said that she would go first to give Jen more time to recover from her injuries and in hope that their team members would be able to save them in the meantime. Reading Jenny Shepard's personal file had explained a lot about her infatuation with the team, why she thought having a Mossad liaison in her office was important. Why she tolerated so much from Gibbs. And she had turned Tony into her personal Jack of all trades, when Gibbs was in Mexico, she send him on multiple undercover missions in that period of time.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gibbs was in his basement sanding his newest project, a new boat. A new model, slimmer and leaner, more graciously a design that fit the name that he was going to put on it. Another womans name on another boat, another woman he had lost. He had been working on the ribs of the boat for a couple of hours, he stroked his hand over the smoothly sanded curves. Curves which he in his mind liked to compare to a woman's curves.

He picked up the bottle of bourbon and filled his glass, he held it up to the soft yellow light and watched as the liquid rolled through the glass.

***

She sat up in her bed, the walls of the white room where closing in on her. She sighed and stared out of the window. The view outside was not really interesting, but there was not much else she could do. She couldn't remember anything from before she woke up. The doctor had told her that it was a defense mechanism. He had told her that she would probably get her memories back, sooner rather then later and they would probably come with a vengeance.

She knew who she was and she knew that she used to be an NCIS special agent, but from that time on it had been difficult to remember any specific details. Sometimes a name or a face of a person came to mind, but she couldn't exactly place them. She figured that they had to something to do with the time between her being a special agent and ending up in the hospital in California. She wrecked her brain trying to find the memories that fit in between the years that she was apparently missing. Every now and then something surfaced that she couldn't place yet.

Once she had a 'vision' - by lack of a better word - which seemed so real but at the same time she didn't think it could be a memory because she remembered Jethro Gibbs and he was standing alongside Ziva David. She remembered working with both, Jethro had been years ago in Europe, Paris mostly. On an undercover operation. While Ziva David had been a colleague on a anti terrorism task force years later in Egypt. As far as she remembered they had never met, so why would she remember them together, she had been wrecking her brain about it but she couldn't find the answer.

She gave up, and picked up the book which the kind doctor had brought with him for her and continued reading it. Every waking moment she had tried to find the answers which where hidden in the depths of her mind. She knew they where there, she just couldn't reach them. Dr. Franks, his name sounded sop familiar even though he had claimed he didn't know her - gave the book to her saying that it was one of his wife's favorites. He hoped that it could take her mind of off things for a while. She started reading but after reading the same page for the third time she closed the book and stared out of the window again. A soft sound at the door made her turn her head. She expected to see either Dr. Franks or Amy the nurse who had been taking care of her needs during the day. Instead she saw a man standing in the doorway in a Navy dress suit and by the insigne visible on his chest he was a high ranking officer.

"Madame Director Shepard, I am the assistant secretary of the navy John McDermott."

"Director?" Jen questioned the man who was standing besides her bed.

"Yes." John McDermott answered confused; "Ah the doctor told me about this, you can't remember who you are."

"I do know who I am, I am just missing some ... years ... the last few years." Jen said with a tone of authority in her voice. She swallowed hard since she used that tone of voice towards the assistant secretary, but one the other hand apparently she was the Director of NCIS. If they hadn't replaced her by now she thought bitterly. On the other hand it felt good to know that she had reached some of the goals she had set for herself, yet at the same time being here alone and no one here who visited her since she had been admitted made her feel incredibly lonesome.


	8. Chapter 7

AN: There is no real excuse for my lack of updates but I am an official NaNoWriMo winner. I have been working hard on my story which is a crossover fic between NCIS and Criminal Minds which will of course be posted on this website once it is finished.

Chapter 7

It was friday night and Gibbs had send everyone home earlier then usually. He had planned to go home work on his boat and think of a way to get his team back. He was still infuriated when he thought of what had happened, and especially the way it happened. Ziva and Tony might have made wrong deciscions and maybe he didn't agree with how they handled the situation. In fact he thought that they should have called him when they first had the suspiscions that something was going on with Jen.

But on the other hand they had just followed an order, Jen had told them to take some time off and enjoy the free day in LA. He knew that he wouldn't have listened to Jen when she would have said that to him. But for Tony and Ziva the situation was a little different they where used to listen to superiours while he always did what he liked when he liked it. Even if he broke a couple of rules along the way. And he knew that both Tony and Ziva blamed themselves for what happened.

He went to the store, bought a microwave meal and went home. He parked the car in the driveway and as he made it up to the house he wondered if Ziva had been able to find a place she could call home on such short notice.

He turned the key in the lock and stepped inside, even he had to admit that not a lot of people would want to call his house a home but for him it worked. The most important place was the basement anyway and he didn't need any of the fancy stuff that Tony had in his apartment. He had his boat, an old tv, his work bench and his tools and if he wanted to there was even a couch placed in there. That was all he really needed to make it a home. He turned the microwave on and heated the meal according to the instructions on the package. He rumaged through the house, grabbed an old NCIS shirt and faded jeans and discarded the clothes that he had worn to work on a chair in the corner of his bedroom. After he got dressed he made his way back to the kitchen where he picked up a mug of strong black coffee and his plate with food.

He walked down the stairs in utter darkness and turned on the light over his work bench where he sat down on the stool and ate half of his dinner. He looked up at the wooden shelfs in front of him and spotted a glass which shouldn't be there. That must have been why he hadn't seen it before. He remembered when and who put it there; it was a merely a week before Jen died the last time she had been in his basement. She came unannounced; they had been working an extremely difficult case and unexpectatly and uninvited Jen had showed up at the top of the basement stairs. A child had been involved in this case, and he knew that everyone took these cases hard but he always suspected that Jen took them harder then anyone he knew. He figured that it had to do with the fact that she had no children herself. She always put her career first until she realized that she had missed out on the chance of ever having any kids. And though she had never told him so he knew that this was the real reason she kept showing up at his house in the middle of the night. Because she knew that here she wouldn't be the only one who was greeving for their lost, she knew that if she came here he would be greeving the loss of his own child who never got the chance to grow up. But that night he had known that there where more things playing on her mind then just missing out on having a family because you are too busy working your ass off to become the highest ranking woman in NCIS.

He remembered how he had looked up at her trying to figure out if she had came there that night to tell him what was going on with the tests she had both Ducky and Abby working on. The results that where kept hidden from him. He had wondered if she came to tell him that she was sick, dying possibly. But she had never told him anything of the sorts. For a long time she had just been in the basement, sitting on the couch sipping from her glass of bourbon, or hovering behind him watching what he was doing. But he never managed to find out what it was that was actually haunting her. At least not until it was way too late to help Jen.

He was still sitting in the darkness of his basement, his food was cold by now. He pushed the plate away from him and drank his bourbon.

He remembered the talk they had in her office, mere months before she died. He remembered how he had told her that if she kept going after Le Grenoille the way she was going at it her name wouldn't be on the door for much longer. He had meant that she would be replaced as a Director. He had never even imagined this. She to him had always seemed to be one of those people who could go through the toughest things and only come out stronger in the end. On the other hand he had researched the disease that Ducky had mentioned she had and in a way he knew that this really was the best way for her to go. He couldn't imagine her slowly dying, life fading away from her one piece after another until she was completely rendered motionless, as a lifeless shell with a conscious mind. He couldn't think of a worse way to go.

He got up and turned on the light over the boat, he stared at it for a couple of minutes doing nothing before he walked around it and let his hand slide over the smooth curves in the wood. He started sanding it where he thought that the curves weren't quite right. He never used any sketches and he hardly ever measured anything. It was pure handwork that eased his mind, and since none of his boats ever sailed out it didn really matter if they where perfectly build as long as they where perfect in his mind.

Soon he heard something at his front door, he wasn't afraid he kind of had expected it. He looked up at the stairs of the basement when the door creaked open. Black high boots appeared at the top of the stairs, he smiled. He would recognize those anywhere; "Abbs, what are you doing here?" She sat down at the top of the basement stairs and smiled weakly at him.

"Nothing." She said and looked at the progress on the boat; "Gibbs, why do you only build boats, why don't you ever build anything else?"

"Because Abbs it isn't about the boat. It's about the thoughts behind it, it eases my mind. Gives me closure. It could be anything." He quietely explained to her.

"Then why not make something that lasts that you could use. Something you need?" She asked him, still from her spot at the top of the stairs. "Oh by the way, I think McGee might be coming here too."

"Why do you think that?" Gibbs asked her surprised.

"He is sitting in that way too expensive and new Porsche of him outside. I guess he might be getting up the nerve to come in here."

Gibbs smiled; "I know, I have seen him out there a couple of nights already."

"You did!" Abby squealed, she was up and almost out the door when he still could hear her rambling; "Why did you never ask him to come in, this is McGee we are talking about you know how he is. He wants to ...." Abby's rambling was silenced by the front door that closed behind her.

She made her way towards McGee's care, she found him staring down at his hands sitting in utter silence. She knocked on the window and he jumped, he grabbed his badge and without looking up he pushed the button to roll down the window. He held his badge up before he looked up at her; "I am ..."

"I know who you are, McGee. Are you planning on staying outside in your car or are you thinking about coming inside?" She asked her hands placed on her hips while she watched him.

"Oh ehm ... Abby... Sorry I thought maybe someone had complained and called the police about a man sitting outside of their house in his car."

"Well if you don't hurry up and get inside and tell Gibbs whatever it is you might want to tell him you could certainly get a visit from a cop to ask you what you are doing here. Especially since this has been going on for a couple of nights now. That is a little stalkerish isn't it, McGee?"

He smiled nervously, before he got out of the car and locked it. "Gibbs knows?"

"Gibbs knows everything." Abby said with a wide motion of her hands; "Be glad that he likes you, or you might have regretted this stalkerish behavior of yours." She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the front door of Gibbs' suburban home.

The three of them sat together around McGee's laptop trying to find that one shred of evidence which could get their two other team members back where they belong. It took them more then a week but they continued to work on finding something to help them out, a couple of times they thought they might have something. Each day after work they gathered at Gibbs' house where they would eat something before they returned to the task at hand. McGee and Abby hacked websites, attempted to find more information on Vance. They printed information for Gibbs to read through so that they all had something to do.

Abby insisted that the problem was Vance, Gibbs wasn't all that convinced. Abby pinned every piece of 'evidence' against one of the walls of Gibbs' basement. So far there seemed to be hundreds of shreds of information but nothing seemed to piece together and give them something to work with. Tim had been hacking some of the best secured websites, government websites if he was caught he knew that he was screwed.

They where growing more and more frustrated when they weren't able to find anything to help the others. Gibbs told them that they where going to take the next night off. He said that he wanted them to do something nice, something for themselves and that they would meet again in his basement the next day. Abby and McGee didn't even protest, they looked defeated and tired. McGee packed his bag and retrieved his coat from the couch he waited for Abby to do the same thing before they left Gibbs' house.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Gibbs had returned home from work barely an hour ago when he heard his front door open. He sighed deeply and waited for the basement door to open. Unlike the days before he had told Abby and McGee to stay home tonight, or at least do something for themselves. He had never expected that they would take a day off without saying a word but he did, he wrote it off as exhaustion when they left the previous night.

He knew that Abby or McGee would find their way to the basement, so he continued sanding the boat. Until a strange voice called out his name; he was surprised to say the least. "Special Agent Gibbs?"

He quickly made his way up the stairs and found a familiar man in his hallway, he couldn't quite place him but he knew him from somewhere. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I am McDermott, Assistant Secretary of the Navy." When he said his name Gibbs recognized him as one of the men he had seen Jen talk to on a couple of occascions in MTAC. Gibbs walked up to him and shook his hand. He repeated his previous question before he gestured towards the door of the basement. He descended down the stairs. Luckily Abby had covered up the wall before she left yesterday evening. He grabbed the contrainer which kept his coffee warm and offered McDermott a mug. McDermott observed the room and was starinfg at the boat in the middle of the room probably wondering the same thing everyone did when they came in here and saw the boat. Wondering how he was going to get it outside.

He snapped out of it when Gibbs appeared next to him; "Building a boat in the basement works therapeutic, it doesn't have to get outside because I don't sail it." He explained quickly, already knowing what the next question would be.

"Sorry, you asked me why I was here." McDermott said with an appologetic smile. "I am here to stop you from revealing any information you may have found on NCIS Director Vance before we want that information to be revealed."

"And when would that big revealation of 'my supposed information' be?" Gibbs asked gruffly, he believed that SecNav would protect the Director of NCIS. He veign to not know any information which could harm Vance.

McDermott laughed softly and sipped from his coffee; "Sooner then you might think. And don't play games, we know that you have information. We just want to prevent the information from getting out before everything is in place to stop Vance once and for all. Your instincts are right, he is corrupt and we have been trying to find a way to stop him for years. The problem was that we had no direct evidence at all, everything was substantional and not nearly enough to put him away."

Gibbs nodded, not at all impressed. If they had done their job better Jen would have still been alive.

"Listen to me before you say anything you might regret in the next couple of minutes." McDermott was silent for a few minutes before he continued, it seemed as if he was trying to find the best way to tell him what he wanted to say.

"Director Jen Shepard knew what was going on, she also knew that Vance wanted her position. For the past year we have been working together, trying to provoke Vance into making a mistake. We suspected him from treason and giving intel to other countries or to criminals. Problem was once again proving it. Jen came up with the idea of giving him something to work with. We all knew she was obsessed with La Grenouille, we wanted him off the radar and we send a team after him. They killed him at the Marina and dumped him in the water. The bullet was retrieved by Dr. Mallard and investigated by Miss Sciuto. The gun from which the bullet came from however was taken home by Director Shepard. In the months that followed we have planted several types of evidence which all suggested that Director Shepards wasn't up to fulfill her job and Vance would want to step in."

"But I am the one who found that evidence."

McDermott nodded but he changed the subject without going deeper into it; "The second idea came from Director Shepard herself, she asked Dr. Mallard to perform a test for her. He asked Miss Sciuto to confirm the results. The results of the blood test where a very progressive and deadly desease. Within a day after the tests had been performed we received an annonymous tip that Director Shepard used the coroner and the lab to perform private tests. Along with the results and the message that she was incompetent as the Director of NCIS."

"So when you say that the idea came from her does that mean that she didn't have the deasese?"

"That is right, she wasn't sick." Gibbs slumped down on the couch in disbelieve, he knew that both Ducky and Abby believed that Jen had been sick, even he believed it. And knowing that she didn't suffer the brutal effects of the desease that he thought she had made it easier to understand why she made certain choices during the last hours of her life.

"I know that this must come as a shock to you, but what I am about to tell you might prove to be an even bigger shock" McDermott spoke softly yet clearly. Gibbs snapped his head up and stared straight at him. "We intercepted intel about a hit on Director Shepard. Since the Director was out of town Vance was in charge each time any of you received a call from the Director or Tony and Ziva the information was send to a cellphone which was owned by one of the Russians."

"Director Vance suggested to call Franks, she knew that you would trust him with your life. That was enough for her to trust him as well. And Tony on his turn received a telephone number months ago, Director Shepard gave it to him in case of emergency, she told him that if anything happened to her he should call the number and tell them where it happened. He and Ziva arrived ten minutes after the shooting at the diner. They found Director Shepard in a pool of her own blood, Ziva assumed she was dead. And Tony confirmed it, he called the number and told us that she still hyad a very faint heartbeat. We had a team on standby, they portrayed as the mredical examinor and an assistant."

"She was still alive!" Gibbs exclaimed.

"Yes, she is."

"She is ... as in present time. She survived?" Gibbs was in utter shock at that confession.

"Yes, much to the surprise of everyone the scale tipped to the right side when she was balancing on the brink of death. She has been in a coma for a good two weeks, and she suffered some amnesia. Other than that she is doing quite well."

Gibbs got up and made his way to the stairs without a word.

"Where are you going, Special Agent Gibbs?"

"Bethesda, I need to see her with my own eyes to believe this." He said as he took the flight of stairs two steps at a time.

"Special agent Gibbs, the risk that someone would recognize NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in Bethesda was too big."McDermott; "We could not afford to risk our undercover operation. Especially not when everyone was convinced that she had died in a fire at her Georgetown home. Isn't it a shame Special Agent Gibbs that Director Shepard doesn't have a place to call home when she returns?" McDermott asked but it wasn't really a question. He knew he shouldn't tell Special Agent Gibbs this because he would be on his way to California. "Special Agent Gibbs, I will tell you where she is. But you have to promise me that you stay here, go to Vance and ask for a couple of days of. Don't let him know what you are going to do Make up a good reason why you need some time off. We are working to bring Vance down but we want to do it with Jen here. We want him to see the full extent of his betrayal, bring him down to his knees while he stares her in the face."

Gibbs looked up at McDermott, he trust him. "So if I take a couple of personal days, I can go and get her and bring her back home?"

McDermott nodded his agreement.

Gibbs smiled, Jenny was alive. He vowed right then and there that he would never utilize rule number twelve again. His agents could do what they wanted, if they fell in love with each other he would grant them there blessing. Just because he had burned his fingers with a relationship between co-workers it didn't mean that it would be bad for anyone.

"What about my team?" Gibbs suddenly realized that he had a couple of agents which he didn't want and a couple of agents who he wanted on his team who where God knows where.

"You will get your team back, Ziva is already at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. She will stay there till everything here is settled and then she will be flown in with a private jet. Tony is being debriefed as we speak, his ship is supposed to harbour in two days he will then be brought back to Washington as well." McDermott smiled when he saw the smile that broke through the gruff face of the older man. He thought that he was a bastard but in fact it had all been because of what had happened in the last two months.

"Ah yes, Special Agent Gibbs then there is of course Timothy McGee. A very skillfull young man who broke into a lot of databases for which his security level was way too low." McDermott said, partly to show Gibbs that he knew what they had been up to even if it had happened in the privacy of his own home. "And Miss Sciuto."

"I told them to do so." Gibbs spoke up. "I will resign, you can even procecute me for it. I forced them both to do it."

Assistant Secretary McDermott seemed unimpressed; "Special Agent Gibbs we both know that you haven't forced them to do anything. Your team is unique in every way, the loyalty between it's members is almost unbelievable. They both posses the knowledge to do what they did and even without you being there they would have done everything in their power to help Special Agent DiNozzo and Officer David."

Gibbs opened his mouth to say something but he was abrubtly stopped by the raised hand of the younger man who possesd so much authority that it shut him up effectively. "Let me finish, Special Agent Gibbs. What McGee and Sciuto did was wrong, but at the same time they provided us with exactly that shred of evidence that we needed to bring Vance down. To restore all of the wrongs that had been done over these past couple of months."

"So everyone will be back on my team?" Gibbs looked up; "Will it still be my team?"

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS should be thankful to have a team like yours amongst them." He smiled; "However we have a deal for Special Agent McGee, but it will be his choice whether or not he will take it."

"What kind of a deal?"

"I will not discuss this deal with you, we will talk to Special Agent McGee if he chooses to stay with your team he will be transferred back to your team. If however he wants to take the deal that should be his choice and his alone."

Gibbs nodded he understood that whatever they wanted to ask Tim must have something to do with his computer skill and would most likely be a special request. "So where is she?" Gibbs asked impatiently, McDermott had so far avoided the topic of where Jen was in a very gracious manner but right now he wanted to know where she was.

"I will make sure that you get that information when you need it. Go to work tomorrow and ask for the next couple of days off. We'll make sure that your team doesn't catch a case within the next day so that you can be assured that you get the days off on such short notice."

Gibbs didn't like this whole situation one bit he rather took matters into his own hands. But if this would ensure him that he would get his team back. When he looked up to say something he noticed that he was alone in his basement again. McDermott had left, silently.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Cynthia is Director Vance in?" Gibbs asked as he brushed past her desk.

Cynthia looked up in surprise, even Gibbs had learned to appriciate the rules since Director Shepard died. He had never respected them when she was sitting in the office. And even though his hand was on the doorhandle while he looked exspectantly she was not looking at the already closed door like she was used to.

"Ehm .. yes Special Agent Gibbs ... he's in."

"Cynthia, it's Gibbs." He said for the hundreth time before he opened the door and dissapeard inside. Vance looked up annoyed when he saw who came in unannounced yet he wasn't surprised one bit.

"Special Agent Gibbs?" He asked as he closed the file he had been reading.

"My wedding anniversary is coming up this weekend and I need some personal days."

"Your wedding anniversary, I didn't realize you where married Special Agent Gibbs." He knew damn well that Gibbs wasn't married anymore.

"I am not." Gibbs stated.

"Then why do you need personal days are you going to make someone lucky wife number 5?" He asked, thinking that Gibbs might have meant it differently then he said it.

"I am not going to make anyone number 5, it is the anniversary of my wedding to my first wife. The one I loved, if she hadn't been murdered we would have been together for 25 years this weekend. I just want some personal days, I have more than enough days left to take off at least a month so I don't see what the problem is." Gibbs huffed, it was true this weekend would have ironically been his 25th wedding anniversary with Sharon if she had lived and he still loved her and missed her and Kelly dearly. So if Vance wanted to look the information up it wouldn't seem all that weird that he wanted some personal days off. It was the perfect cover to leave town and find Jen to bring her back home. Even though he felt like he was betraying Sharon by using her to get Jen back. He also knew that Sharon would have liked Jen and that she would want him to find his happiness again even if he had waisted all of these years.

"Sorry, Special Agent Gibbs I didn't realize." Vance said softly. "Consider your request granted, when will you be back?"

"Next wednesday, I am going out of town for a couple of days." Gibbs added while he nodded.

***

McDermott arrived at Camp Pendleton, he had a meeting with the doctor first. He wanted to know how Jenny Shepard was doing. The doctor told him as much as he knew, they talked for a good half an hour before he left and went to the room that Jen had been placed in. She looked up when he knocked on the door; "Secretary McDermott, it's good to see you. When will I be allowed to go home?" Jen asked impatiently. Over the last couple of days the visions and memories had started to make more and more sense. What didn't make sense yet was why no one came to visit her.

"Getting impatient are we?" McDermott tried to joke but the look on Jen's face made it clear that he should stop trying. "From your doctor I have heard that you are making very good progress with the memory loss. How is your shoulder?"

"Yes, I am, all though there are still some foggy memories." Jen smiled; "The shoulder ..." she absentmindedly grabbed her shoulder and rubbed it before she continued. "it's getting better, still stiff but therapy helps." She answered truthfully, flexing her hand. The bullet had gone through some of her muscles and damaged them, they told her that she could regain full strength of her muscles but it would take some time and therapy.

"Do you remember what happened, you know before you got shot?" McDermott asked, dreading the question and hoping that he could avoid telling her what happened in detail.

Jen nodded, she didn't say a thing. She remembered most of it, even though there where still some details that she couldn't remember completely. Most of her thoughts seemed coherent and real. By now she also remembered why Ziva and Gibbs appeared in some of her memories together. She had been relieved when she found out that she actually brought Ziva into NCIS as a liaison officer because when she remembered that she knew that the memories which she had before must have been real as well. The hard part had been that there had been no one around who could actually confirm what she remembered. It would have been so much better if that where the case, but McDermott had early on told her that until it was safe for her no one could know who she was.

***

Gibbs left work that day with a lighter step he had told Abby that he was leaving for a couple of days. Telling her that he was going away for a couple of days to visit Franks. She had believed him and didn't question him, even though he did ask her to cover for him if Vance was asking her questions and to tell McGee and Ducky to do the same.

He arrived home and found a ticket to Los Angeles on his kitchen table along with a set of keys for a rental car. The flight would leave later that night. He packed a bag with clothes and some things he thought he might need and left for the airport.

He parked his car and was searching for his gate as he made his way through the crowded airport. He was anxious, he wanted to leave as soon as he could. He wanted to see Jen, he promised that he would never let her go again. He handed his dufflebag to the woman behind the counter and retreated to the waiting area where he sat down on the plastic chairs impatiently watching the departure shedule.

The flight was too long, the food tasted even worse then it usually did on an airplane and by the time he finally arrived he was way too tired. He knew that he should get a sleep or at least a shower before he went to see Jen. But it had been too long already.

He took the papers from the dufflebag with details for the rental car and made his way to the parking lot. It took him longer then expected to find the car, but the guy at the rental station helped him with the navigation system and soon he was on his way. He zipped through the traffic, following the instructions which where given to him by the navigation system.

McDermott had taken good care of him, before he left at the rental station the young guy behind the counter handed him an envelope with the adress to a Hotel where they had already rented a room for him. At first Gibbs had wanted to go to the hospital to find Jen. To finally be able to hold her, but he had waited this long and never expected to see her again. He figured he could take an extra hour, shower and dress in a fresh set of clothes.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"_Miss David, we need to talk. Meet me at the boulevard opposite of the statue around seven." _

She received the message earlier that morning. The person who talked to her hadn't told her who he was nor had he revealed why he needed to see her. But he had sounded truthful and American. She had been trained to be able to get out of difficult situations and she knew how to analyze a persons behavior. She wasn't scared, just confused that an American man would call her to meet with her this way in Tel Aviv. He hadn't sounded familiar, but he did make her curious and he had sparked hope in her.

Since she didn't know who else she could trust she asked Ayla if she could sit at one of the terraces of the small restaurants along the boulevard. Ziva had given her a note with Gibbs' phone number telling her that if something happened to her she was to call that number and explain everything to Gibbs.

Ziva wasn't afraid but she just wanted to make sure that Gibbs would know if something happened to her. She was sure that her father wouldn't bother to inform her friends, but these last couple of years she had learned that friends like her former team members proved to be a better family then her blood relatives had been in a long time, excluding her mother and Tali.

She had her sunglasses on and stood besides the statue ever so often her eyes - hidden by her sunglasses - shifted towards the terrace where Ayla was. The rest of the time she was watching her surroundings. Finally she spotted a man who seemed a little too interested in her. She sat down on the bench facing the sea, her eyes trained on the man. He looked middle eastern, not at all American, though when she looked closer she could see that it was mostly due to his beard and his tanned skin. He closed the distance between the two of them and sat down on the bench as well. For a couple of seconds he looked engrossed in his newspaper before he spoke up; "Miss David?"

Ziva nodded but looked straight ahead.

"I am Special Agent Hammond, NCIS. I was send here by direct orders from secNav."

Ziva's heart jumped and skipped a beat. "SecNav! Why?"

He opened the newspaper and acted as if he was reading one of the articles. "I have very specific orders, go home get your belongings and come to the American Embassy as soon as possible. Don't tell anyone. I'ĺl be there to meet you, and I will debrief you when you get there." He closed the paper, nodded briefly and got up leaving in the opposite direction. Ziva sat there for a couple of minutes making sure that he left before she grabbed her cell phone from her bag. She dialed Ayla's number and asked her to meet her at a store just around the corner from the small apartment which she rented since she came back to Tel Aviv.

***

Gibbs looked at his reflection in the mirror, a quick shower and a freshly shaven face had done him good. He had even showed a great deal of patience when he laid down for a while. But now as the sun was creeping up the sky he was ready to go. He wanted to see her, hold her.

He arrived at the base, the hospital was easy to find and his visitation had been cleared with the staff. He was brought to a room on the top level floor. An officer was standing at the door, he asked to see some ID before he nodded briefly and handed Gibbs' badge back to him. He stood in front of the door for a couple of seconds, for the first time he wondered what he was going to find when he opened the door. She had been in the hospital for a month now. He figured that they would have taken her somewhere she was fine. He still wasn't sure if the disease that he thought she had was really made up, sure McDermott had said it was but who knew. He needed to hear it from Jen to believe it.

He gently knocked on the door before he opened it. He smiled at the irony of the gesture, since he always used to walk into her office at NCIS. Never wondering or bothering with what he would find if he just walked inside unannounced, and now for the first time he knocked because not knowing what he would find behind the closed door was holding him back.

Jen was sitting in a chair turned towards the window, she didn't move when she heard the knock and even though she didn't bother to answer she did notice that the door opened. She expected it to either be the doctor, the nurse or McDermott. And right now she didn't feel like seeing either one of them. She woke up that morning feeling extremely down. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere else except for when she had therapy sessions. She wasn't used to not being able to go where she wanted even though McDermott had explained that it was to keep her safe for now. No one could tell her how long she was supposed to be kept safe and not knowing that made her feel insecure and depressed.

Gibbs watched her, a lumb clogging up his throat, he tried to clear it. He walked towards her, placed a hand on her shoulder and softly said her name. He didn't want her to hear the pain in his voice. He knew that he couldn't keep a steady tone of voice.

Her head spun around and she looked up at him, she stared her mouth open. "Jethro!" She said in utter surprise. She got up and fell into his arms, he embraced her. He couldn't believe that he was actually holding her. Tears where running down his cheeks, he wasn't good at showing his deepest feelings but like with Shannon, Jen always knew how to bring them out. She was the one he let go, the one he had almost lost forever.

"How did you find me?" Jen mumbled against his shoulder between sobs.

"Assistant Secretary of the Navy McDermott paid me a visit, at home. He told me where you where, and what had happened to you since Ziva and Tony last saw you." He was absentmindedly rubbing her back comforting her when he realized that she probably had no idea what had been going on since she had been shot. "Do you know what happened?"

"Yes, McDermott has been here a couple of times." She answered softly. "Does the team know?"

Gibbs sadly nodded his head; "I am no longer their boss. I had to lie to Abby, McGee and Ducky. But they will know soon enough."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Ziva had met with Ayla at the small store around the corner from her apartment. She had quickly explained what had happened and when she had convinced Ayla that she would be okay and promised that she would call her as soon as she could she had said her goodbye's to Ayla. She hurried to her apartment where she grabbed most of her clothes and threw them into a dufflebag and left the apartment.

She took three different cabs and she walked about ten minutes before she arrived. She wanted to make sure that no one was following her. At the gates of the American Embassy, one of the guards took a look at her pass and when he cleared her he waved her inside. He didn't say a word but gestured to her that she should follow towards the entrance of the building, he guided her through a couple of hallways and knocked on a large thicke wooden door. He opened the door and motioned for her to step inside.

"Ah Officer David, you made it." Special Agent Hammond smiled; "Where you followed? Sorry, I know that you are an excellent trained agent but I have to ask." He gestured to the chair on the other side of the table. He opened the drawer in his desk and put a stack of files on top of the table. He asked her if she wanted coffee and picked up the phone to order someone to bring it to them. All the while Ziva was shifting in her seat, nervously.

***

Tony was called into the office of the Commanding Officer of the USS Ronald Reagan. He had been surprised when he got summoned, he hadn't expected it and usually you didn't get invited to his personal quarters aboard the ship. He knocked on the door and waited, Captain Norton opened the door himself. He gestured Tony to step inside; "Special Agent DiNozzo, please sit down."

Captain Norton said when he walked around the desk and sat down. Tony was wrecking his brain, he couldn't figure out why the Captain called him into his private quarters. As far as he knew he had been doing everything he could to perform to the best of his abilities. Sure this was not the job he wanted and he had wished that he was back with his team in DC.

"The reason why I called you in here Special Agent DiNozzo is that I received a call from SecNav."

Tony felt a lumb clogging up his throat as he wondered what they where going to tell him this time he prayed that it had nothing to do with Ziva. Maybe Vance found something to get him completely removed from active duty. "Special Agent DiNozzo, I hate to loose a fine agent like you but I was told that you have to leave the ship when we dock in the next harbour which will be in two days."

"But why .. what? Sorry Sir, I mean as you wish." He closed his mouth, his jaws clenched.

"I thought that you would be happy to hear that you are going back to Washington? DiNozzo, even with what little time you have spend here I know that you are a fine gentleman." He smiled a little before he continued; "This is an order from SecNav, they wouldn't tell me anything else. And told me not to tell anyone. The secrecy around this situation is something I have never seen before, if they where going to fire you I am sure that you would have known by now."

He stood up and Tony followed his example jumping to his feet, the Commanding Officer stepped around his table and held out his hand. Tony shook it; "There is something going on, I don't know what but be careful and I am sure that you will be fine, Special Agent DiNozzo." Tony was surprised the man across from him watched him with a fatherly smile, confidence etched on his face and it managed to calm Tony's nerves down somewhat.

"Two days you said, Sir?"

"Yes, act as if nothing has happened and come and see me right before we dock. They told me that a representative of SecNav would meet you, they haven't told me anything else but I hope that I will be able to tell you where they will meet you when we get there. Have faith and 'semper fi'."

"Semper fi." Tony nodded before he turned to leave the room.

***

Jenny smiled at Gibbs, she was glad that he was the one who came looking for her. He explained to her what had happened in the past couple of weeks. How difficult it had been on all of them. And how when McDermott came to talk to him he couldn't believe that Jen was still alive. He knew that Tony and Ziva wouldn't have lied to him about this, he was sure that both of them truly thought that she had died. And when he saw the blood and heard what had happened and how many times she had been shot he hadn't doubted it either.

He wondered about Ducky though supposedly he had been the one who had examined her body. Would he have lied to him? Gibbs couldn't believe that Ducky would do something like that.

Jen had told him what she had heard from Dr. Franks about her arrival at the hospital and the secrecy around her being here. That no one was allowed to know more than just her first name and that only Dr. Franks, two nurses Annie and Michelle and McDermott where allowed to visit her. She told him how lonely she had been and that she wasn't even allowed to go outside to take a walk in the park that surrounded the hospital.

"Everything will be different now, Jen. I promise." Gibbs spoke softly they where sitting on the bed, Jen was leaning into his embrace and his hand was running up and down her back. "We will go back to Washington and the people who did this to us will pay for it. McDermott told me that thanks to McGee's and Abby's digging in the past of our new Director they have given SecNav more then enough evidence to take him down."

Jen smiled at him sadly; "Do you think we can really turn back the hands of time to what it was like before?"

"No." Gibbs answered honestly; "Too much has happened in the mean time, but we can make it better."

She looked up at him searching his face with her big green eyes. "Better?"

Gibbs nodded; "Yes, better." He leaned in and kissed Jen, it had been way too long since he kissed her the last time. He didn't want to let her go anymore, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He watched her go without a word once before and he didn't want to see that again. Though he still needed to find a way to tell her about her old georgetown home which he and Franks had burned down to cover up her 'murder'. He figured that he'd better bite the bullit and tell her about it straight away than to try and keep it hidden from her untill they arrived back home.

"Jen, there is something I need to tell you." He breathed in deeply before he spoke up; "Jen because of what happened to you and what it might mean for your position as the Director of NCIS and to prevent people from finding out what really happened. Franks, the team and I uncovered the truth about Paris. About Natasha Lenkov." He watched her to see if she recognized the name.

"What about Natasha Lenkov?" Jen asked.

"You didn't fulfil the task you had in Paris, and because of that people died. It took years but they finally found us. The past came back to haunt us, William Decker was killed because of that and you knew that they would come for us too. Once they found him it was only a matter of time. You didn't want to make the same mistake twice so you went after them, and you put up a damn good fight. You gave Ziva and Tony the day off because you didn't want them to get caught up in your mess. All the pieces of the puzzle fell together when I recognized the picture on the flatscreen." He was silent for a few seconds giving Jen the time to grasp what he was telling her. That he really knew it all. For Jen the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place while Gibbs explained to her what he knew.

"I was at your house when Natasha showed up, she would have shot me if it hadn't been for Franks." Gibbs admitted; "Franks shot and killed her, we then set your house on fire. Everyone thinks that it was you who died in the fire, Jen. It has been all over the news, it was the only way for us to keep what really happened out of the news and the only way that we could protect your reputation as the Director of NCIS."

"You what?" Jen asked shocked, she actually had no home to go back too.

"Jen we didn't know, we tried to do what was best to keep your reputation intact." Gibbs explained still holding her close to him.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She mumbled between her teeth, she loved that house. It was so beautiful, exactly the way she wanted it. Well there had always been one huge thing missing, deep down in her heart she had always hoped that one day Gibbs would move his boat into her garage and sell his house. But she had always known that she had ruined the chance of that ever happening a long time ago.

"You can come home with me." Gibbs answered softly, he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"No, I don't want to be in your way." Jen answered resolute while she pushed herself up looking straight at him.

"Jen, you won't be in my way. Dammit when will you be able to see how much I care for you!" Jen watched him stunned, Gibbs had never been a very open person who would speak his mind like this. With any other person a sentence like that would hardly mean anything but when it came to Gibbs it was quite a confession. He got up and made his way to the window; "I should probably go, you might need some time to process what you heard today. I know that it is a lot to handle."

"Jethro, don't go. Not now." Not after what he had said, she felt that if she let him go she would close the door on his feelings forever.

He turned around and watched her; "What Jen, what is it you want me to do? I watched you walk out of my life once before when your career was more important and I didn't fit into your life. Then a couple of weeks ago when I was already thinking that something was going on with you, you where shot and we thought you had died. Turns out you are still alive and I can't let you go again. I can't do it, Jen."

Jen crossed the couple of steps between them, she leaned in and kissed him gently. "Jethro, there is nothing wrong with me." She stated while she wrapped her arms around him.

"But Jen, Ducky and Abby told me about the test results. Then McDermott told me the complete opposite. What should I believe?"

"Jethro, believe me when I say that there is nothing wrong with me." Jen answered softly.

"Jen, please don't lie to me, I looked it up on the internet. I might not know much about the internet but I did pay attention when Abby told me how to use a search page like google." Gibbs said softly his voice breaking down near the end of the sentence.

"Jethro, I am not sick. And I am not lying or in denail. Over these past couple of months I have been working together with SecNav. For a while they had their suspiscions towards Vance, but they had no real proof. They knew that he was after my job, one way or another he would get it at least that is what they where convinced off. So we set several traps to see what his reactions would be if he found out and hopefully find some evidence that would incriminate him." While Jen told him this more and more pieces of the puzzle fell into their place. "You being here must mean that they have gathered enough evidence to bring him down. To make things right again..." Jen's words silently left her mouth.

Gibbs sighed in relief, maybe just maybe there was a chance that this could go somewhere.

Jen looked up at Gibbs, her green eyes where filled with tears. She hurt for what she had done to her friends, knowing that they cared for her and that they where greeving for her supposed death. But especially Gibbs, she knew that her actions had caused him a lot of pain over the last couple of years.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Ziva was happy when she was brought to a private air strip outside of Tel Aviv where a plane was waiting for her, Special Agent Hammond had explained to her that thanks to the help of Gibbs, Abby and McGee. They had found the evidence they needed to convict Vance for treason, information which they retrieved illegaly by hacking through some security systems, and that they – SecNav – where able to collect substancial and more then enough evidence to get Gibbs' team back in Washington and to be able to take Vance down once and for all.

Ziva truly wasn't able to remember a time in her life where she had felt more victorious then right now at this particular moment when they told her that she could go home. Because no matter how many years she had spend in Tel Aviv, Washington DC after three years felt more like a home then any other place in the world. And being away from it had shown her how much she was missing her apartment, her job and especially her friends. She couldn't wait to get back to them.

Special Agent Hammond was traveling with her back to the United States. The plane was small it kind of reminded her of the one that they used to trick a terrorist into a confession a couple of months back. She knew that it was going to be a comfortable flight. She had a book with her and of course her Ipod. Minutes later Special Agent Hammond came towards her; "Fifteen minutes and then we can leave." He said with a smile knowing how important going back to the United States was for Ziva. He smiled when he thought about the classified information that he was still hiding for her. She would know soon enough, and by the looks of it she was going to be a very happy woman when they arrived at the NCIS Headquarters in DC.

The past two days she had been hiding at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, she had been miserable. To keep her safe they had taken her cell phone away and hadn't allowed her any acces to a computer or the internet. It was all in order to keep this hiding for as long as they could. There was too much at stake to loose it now.

***

Tony had packed his bag and he was ready to go, he was still wondering about the secrecy regarding his return to Washington. But he was happy to go back, he just hoped that when he returned it was to become a part of his team again, Gibbs' team. And he really hoped that Ziva would be back at her rightful place, across from him at her desk. And of course with McGeek on his right, he loved the guy even though he would never admit it to the Probies face he really had missed him. And Abby, he was always looking forward to her emails.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, soon the door swung open and the Captain motioned him to step inside. Once the door was closed behind them the Captain started to speak. "I don't have an aweful lot more to tell you. Just that you will go off board around 0300, a special agent will pick you up at the warehouse near pier two."

"Thank you, Sir. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"No, they told me that you would be debrieved after they pick you up." He smiled fatherly at him. "Take good care of yourself, DiNozzo. You are a fine agent, and my ship was lucky to have you around to take care of the cases in these past couple of weeks."

Tony smiled, he hadn't even expected that the Captain of a ship as big as this would even notice him. "Thank you, Sir."

They shook hands and Tony left the room, he was going to the deck, the Captain told him that someone would pick up his bag and give it to him when he was off board. Tony didn't get the whole secrecy around his return but as long as he was returning to DC he couldn't care less.

A hour later he left the ship claiming that he would be helping with the unloading and loading of the ship and later on that he had to pick something up for the Captain. He made his way to pier two where a special agent would be waiting for him at the warehouse. He approached the warehouse and saw two men standing there with his bag. They handed it to him and told him that he had to wait there, that someone would come soon. They left and he waited patiently, when he heard something move to his right he spun around. To say that he was surprised was the understatement of the century.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Ziva had been shocked when the plane started to descent, looking out of the small window next to her she saw lots of things but nothing that reminded her of Washington DC. She ripped the earbuds from her Ipod from her ears and stared straight at Hammond; "What are you doing, this isn't Washington!" She exclaimed, she shifted in her seat feeling a little more comfortable when she felt the distinctive handle of her knife pressing against her back. At least she would be able to defend herself if it was necesarry.

"Calm down, Ziva I know a lot has been going on. Trust me, we are making a detour but I think that you might like why we are making one." He said a confident smile etched on his face. He didn't seem at all impressed by her anger. She kept quite and decided that she would see what this detour of his meant, she could always kill him in the blink of an eye if she didn't like it after all.

It took them another ten minutes to land on a small air strip outside of the city that they just flown over. A SUV with blackened windows was parked near, they quickly made their way to the car and Special Agent Hammond introduced her to the man behind the wheel. "Agent Parker will bring us to the next location. Then we will come back here and continue our trip to Washington. I am sorry about all the secrecy but it is all to keep you and the other people involved safe. It will be over soon enough." He promised as he motioned to the driver to drive away. Ziva watched the landscape around her trying to recognize something, but she couldn't, there where no specific landmarks and the city that they flew over had not been particularly big. "Where are we?" She asked unable to contain her curiousity. "We aren't in America, are we?" She asked when they left the airstrip and she noticed the unfamiliar trees and plants.

"Does it matter where we are?" Agent Parker grumbled from behind the wheel, while Hammond decided to not answer her question. It annoyed Ziva more then she cared to admit, but she decided that she would trust them, after all they where bringing her back to her team. Or so they promised and she was willing to accept a lot to get that chance.

Soon thereafter they arrived at a harbour, her heart skipped a beat. A harbour! Would this mean that they where picking up Tony? In all of those weeks since they where both forced to leave she hadn't really heard anything from her former partner. All the information that she received had gone through Abby, who had kept everyone up to date on well everything. Abby actually wrote emails exactly like she talked, quickly written emails with hardly a break between topics flying from one topic to the next followed by added comments on previous topics.

The car was parked and the three of them made their way to one of the warehouses, they waited around the corner out of sight from the general employees at the harbour. She couldn't stop herself and checked out the area, she was relieved when she noticed the USS Ronald Reagand docked at one of the piers. She waited inpatiently for what was to come. Soon they could hear a couple of men walking towards the front of the building. Ziva peered around the corner, she was dissapointed when she didn't see Tony. She waited for a couple of minutes when she finally heard another man approach the building. He took the bag from the other two men and swung it over his shoulder. They spoke softly, too soft for Ziva to hear and since one of the man was looking in her direction she didn't dear to look again. It took litterally minutes till two of the men – the two that had been there before – left. At that moment she could no longer contain her patience and she stepped around the corner. The man turned around and wanted to say something but his words where stilled before they left his mouth. He thought that his mind was playing tricks on him, what he saw couldn't be right. He was unable to move, his breathe hitched in his throat.

At that moment Ziva couldn't wait any longer, she crossed the couple of meters between them and flung her arms around his neck. Tony stumbled backwards and regained his posture, wrapping his arms around her. Taking in the smell of her parfume, a smell which he had missed dearly over the last couple of weeks. It was strange how being apart from someone really shows how much you actually miss them, need them and want them around even if you hadn't noticed it before.

"If this is your reaction to seeing me, I am not sure if I want to be around when Abby sees me for the first time." Tony said with a smirk, his arms still around Ziva.

Ziva chuckled, she was glad that Tony took it as well as he did, though she was sure that she was going to be teased about this for a long time coming. She shifted her position backwards a little and watched him as if she wanted to remember every detail about this very moment. "Can't a girl miss you?" She asked with a smile, her eyes watery with tears.

"Yes Zee-vah, a girl can. But it kind of freaks me out when a crazy ninja chick reacts like this, who knows what will happen next." Ziva punched him in the arm, he winced but smiled.

Ziva thought about that for a second, she knew that there was something that she had to tell him. Something that she couldn't keep hidden any longer. "Then maybe I should continue by telling you this - ... Tony, I love you." She mumbled loud enough for him to hear but not for the others. She knew that Parker and Hammond where standing behind them.

Tony stared at her not sure if he had completely lost his mind or if he had heard it right. He didn't know what to say, but he always thought that actions spoke louder then words so he did the only thing he knew would show her how he felt. He captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

Both Hammond and Parker colloured a darker shade of red, stunned by the scene enfolding in front of their eyes. Hammond tried to look away, while Parker just started his mouth hanging open until he received a punch from Hammond. He snapped his mouth shut and diverted his look.

They gave Ziva and Tony a couple of minutes but soon Hammond scratched his throath and made it clear that they had to leave. Soon they where back in the black SUV on their way to the air strip, finally going back to Washington.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Jenny Shepard signed the papers which released her from the hospital, Gibbs hadn't left her side since he found her back. She felt great, she had her last check-up with the doctor earlier that morning. He had seemed pleased that finally someone came to get her, and take her back home. She had smiled happily at Gibbs when he had commented on that.

Jenny couldn't remember the last time she felt this good, she only knew that it had been a long time ago. Together they left the hospital, Jenny had asked where the nearest mall was. She insisted that she needed new clothes – which was true – and she told Gibbs that he had to go with her all afternoon to shop for new clothes because he was responsible for burning the house down.

And suffer was what he did, all afternoon. Gibbs acted disgruntled all afternoon, but he actually liked watching Jenny. She seemed to be in her element going through the stores quickly and picking out some suits. As well as a pair of jeans and some blouses and tops. He was glad that they had to go and eat something rather early because their flight would leave around nine. And Gibbs had to swing by the hotel room – which he never used because he never left Jenny's side – to pick up his dufflebag.

He drove them back to the airport and before they knew it they where on a private plane back to Washington. SecNav had taken care of everything. In their words it was the least they could do – in Gibbs' opinion it was their way to keep track on them so that no one would find out what was going on before they where taking Vance down. McDermott was waiting for them at the plane.

***

Vance came out of his office, out of habit he took a glance into the squad room downstairs. He stopped death in his tracks at the sight before him. Not only McGee was standing in the middle of the area where Gibbs' team was placed, but also Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo. He was shocked, where the hell did they come from.

He grabbed the railing with both of his hands and leaned against it. "Gibbs, what the hell is going on here?" Vance hollered at the top of his voice. He wasn't able to hide the anger, nor did he want to he was sick and tired of Gibbs' crap. Each time he founds something new to annoy him with.

Gibbs turned around, sipped from his coffee before he answered; "Haven't you heard, SecNav gave me my team back." He held up his Styrofoam mug with a smile as if he was making a toast. Vance was furious he stomped down the flight of stairs and made his way to the center of the squad room. At that moment the doors to the elevator slipped open and a squeal could be heard.

"Oh my God! I couldn't believe it when I heard the rumor but it is true everyone is back! Oh my God! Tony!" Abby was talking faster and faster completely ignoring Vance, as she brushed passed him and fell into Tony's arms. Before she knew it Ziva was treated in the same manner when she found herself in the arms of the other woman. She immediately noticed how skinny Abby looked and even the thick layer of make-up couldn't hide the dark circles underneath her eyes. It was obvious how much the whole situation had affected Abby. And at this moment Ziva was sure that it had affected Abby more then any of the other team members despite the fact that Abby stayed in Washington and kept her job. The loss of Jenny and her team had taken a great toll on her.

"It is good to see you, Anthony." Ducky said with a smile as he shook Tony's hand. Ducky moved on to Ziva, he hugged her; "The same goes for you, Ziva. I am glad to see you back here."

"You are back for good, right. Right Gibbs, they are back for good aren't they." Abby said as she turned to Gibbs.

"They are, SecNav reinstated them both and McGee back on my team." Gibbs confirmed Abby's question.

"The hell they are!" Vance bellowed; "Who gave you the right to go behind my back. So that crap about going away for a couple of days was a lie. I should fire you all."

"I wouldn't do that, Vance." A familiar voice said from a couple of meters away. Gibbs just stood there grinning, the rest of the team was in utter shock. Before them was litterally the last person any of them ever expected to see again.

"Oh my God!" Abby exclaimed, she held her arm out to Ziva who was nearest to her; "Pinch me, I think I am hallucinating ... loosing my mind. Either the alcohol I drank last night is playing tricks on my mind or it caused me to trip and fall of the looney wagon and I just can't remember maybe it has caused brain damage ... or ... Does anyone else see the Director?"

"If you mean Director Shepard, then I have lost my mind too ... I can't be that jetlagged." Ziva stated, even though she flew half way around the word and arrived in Washington late last night she didn't think sleep deprivation would make her hallucinate.

Jenny was standing in front of the large window, backed by both Hammond and McDermott. "No, it is really me. I am here to get my rightful place in that office as Director of NCIS back." She said as she pointed towards the door of her former office.

"What?" Vance said loudly as he stepped towards Jen. "You where dead, I saw you!" He exclaimed.

"Don't lie, Vance." Jen spoke with a tone of voice which spoke more authority then any of them had ever heard before. "You never saw me, the last people who actually saw me before I was assumed death are Ziva and Tony. You arrived when I had already been picked up, I even doubt if you ever saw a death body." Jen spat the words at him, making it clear that she didn't want to hear whatever he had to say.

"You are calling me a liar, while you are the one who led us all believe that you had died. Killed by some Russian gangsters, who shot down a diner in the middle of nowhere. Which was then covered up as a death at your Georgetown mansion." Vance spat the words out. "You allowed yourself to be dragged too far into things you should have stayed out especially when you are the Director of NCIS. You where supposed to lead, besides that how long do you think you can hide your medical problems ... women!" He exclaimed with hatred in his voice; "Why do you aspire to take in a position as a Director when you should be at home. Have kids, family life isn't that what all women want. You where not competent for this job, you proved that."

Somehow Vance thought that he could say everything he wanted, somehow he – maybe due to his anger – didn't seem to have any clue what was going on around him. He had no idea he was going to drop of the pedastole he put himself on. Jen was ready to knock him down, her fists where clenched and her knuckles had turned white. Gibbs looked around the group of people around him where as close as a family could be. He stepped towards Jen laid a hand on her shoulder, he felt the tense muscles in her upper arm and shoulders. She backed down a little bit.

Everything happened so fast, Tony stepped forward. Ziva on her turn tried to stop him but before she even had a chance to do anything. Vance found himself on the floor, while Tony rubbed the knuckles of his right hand. "No one speaks like that about one of my friends." He spoke softly yet clearly. Ziva stepped between Tony and Vance to stop him from doing something he would regret. "Calm down." She hissed between her teeth.

Vance scrambled to his feet visibly shaken by what had happened. Definatly not something he had expected to happen. "This is exactly why people like you shouldn't be allowed to even work for an organization like NCIS."

"That, Former Director Vance is where you are wrong." McDermott spoke up as he motioned to two special agents to take Vance in custody. The two agents stepped forward and grabbed a hold of his arm. "We have been investigating you for a while, Vance. Director Shepard took a great risk when she agreed to help us, we have known for a while that you wanted to have her position. And we knew that you would go far, very far to get what you want. We have strong reasons to suspect that you have been giving information to sources outside of NCIS to get better from it. And we know about the treason you committed."

"This team, though they did not use all the official sources they did help us to gather more then enough evidence to be able to convict you. You are the one who actually contacted the Russians and told them about Special Agent Decker, Director Shepard and Special Agent Gibbs. Your only reason for giving that information was to get rid of Director Shepard so that you could take her place. Tony and Ziva followed a direct order from Director Shepard when she told them to have the day off. You took the fact that they didn't safe her as the reason for their reassignments. You had hoped that Special Agent Gibbs would also be killed by the Russians unfortunately for you Director Shepard put up a good fight and killed her assailants. And Special Agent Gibbs took care of Natasja Lenkov."

"Take him away." Jen ordered the two men. She didn't want to see him any longer he had caused enough pain to all of them. The two agents handcuffed him and dragged him out of the squad room. Soon everyone was walking up to Jen to hug her. Tears of joy where running down some cheeks but this time it where tears of happiness. Everyone was back where they belonged.

Abby walked over to Gibbs, hugging him tightly. "Thanks for bringing them back to us." She said with a smile. "I knew you would find a way."

"Actually Abby, it was your and McGee's hacking skills that gave SecNav enough evidence, along with the evidence that they already had to be able to do this." He smiled.

"One thing though Gibbs, you have to say sorry to your temporary team members. You really didn't tread them nicely." She scolded at him with a smile.

"They knew the background of what had happened and they knew that it was going to be a temporary thing while SecNav figured out how to clean up the mess they made. They knew more then we did, I am pretty sure that they will forgive me for not being Mister Niceguy. I had more important things to deal with." He smiled and watched his team, glad that everything seemed to be back to normal again.

Epilogue

Gibbs smiled as he walked into the squadroom, he placed a Styrofoam mug on Ziva's desk, turned around and did the same thing for Tony. He handed McGee also a mug and sat down on his chair. Soon the elevator doors opened and Ziva along with an overly happy and a much better looking Abby stepped inside the squad room as well.

"Thank you." Ziva said with a smirk as she picked up the Styrofoam mug and drank the hot dark liquid. Abby raised an eyebrow at Gibbs until he raised the Caf-Pow that he had placed on his desk out of her sight, she jumped towards him, took the Caf-Pow and took a long sip. Then she bend down and hugged Gibbs. She then sat down on McGee's desk and smiled at him.

At that moment the door of the Directors office upstairs opened. And Tony stepped outside, a broad smile on his face as he said something to Jenny who followed him outside. For a second she stood and stared down at the group of people downstairs. She had doubted if she ever would have a chance to see them like this, together again. Tony waited for her to join him at the top of the stairs, he smiled as he watched the look that she shared with Gibbs. It reminded him of the look a proud mother would give her children when they weren't watching. Not that he saw Jenny as a surrogate mother, but he knew that she cared deeply for each and every person downstairs.

Tony couldn't remember the last time he saw Gibbs this happy, he was sure that something was going on between Jen and Gibbs. It made him happy to finally see the two of them giving into their feelings. At the same time it also gave him a reason to be more open about what was going on between him and Ziva. Things had surely changed for the better, a couple of months ago he was afraid that Gibbs would have killed him if he ever tried to pursue his feelings.

Together with Jen he made his way down the stairs to get together with the group of people he liked to view as his dysfunctional family, but the best kind of family he could get. He said down on the edge of his own desk and grabbed the coffee mug, he mouthed a thank you to Gibbs. While he watched Ziva who took a few steps towards him, then she stopped as if she wasn't sure if she should do what she wanted to do or not. Tony nodded and Ziva continued, it took just a matter of seconds but Gibbs watched them with a smile. She stood close to Tony, he took a hold of her hand and pulled her closer. He brushed a strain of hair away from her face and leaned in, their lips touched gently.

Abby nudged McGee; "I told you that being half way around the world from each other couldn't keep them apart." She exclaimed happily.


End file.
